Far West Texas Mixes BookCrossing and Tourism

by Trailgirl
October 3, 2007

Picture yourself traveling through remote ranchland along the Texas-Mexico border. This is Cormac McCarthy country. This is high mountain desert…cowboy country with beautiful vistas, flowering cactus, roadrunners and mountain lions. A place you can get
authentic enchiladas and a good cold beer, and soon, it is a place you'll be able to get a good read through BookCrossing, too.

But anyone “catching” a Texas Mountain Trail BookCrossing release will immediately see something different — notes to the traveler on how to visit places depicted in that very book!

Starting the first weekend in October, four small communities in Big Bend Country will release books at spots specially selected for the traveler—museums, RV parks, and visitor centers. In addition to the usual BookCrossing stickers, notes and instructions,
the Texas Mountain Trail organization will doctor the books with photographs and web links with information and directions to locations related to the books.

For example, a volume of Track the Cat by Nevada Barr will have information on specific trails in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the location for this popular mystery novel. Nature guides might have directions to desert research centers and special
hiking trails open to the public. Cowboy stories and women’s memoirs might direct travelers to museums and historic sites with special exhibits related to the books.

The Texas Mountain Trail encourages a connection between reading and visiting the region’s state and national parks, museums and historic sites. “We have incredible hiking and wilderness experiences here,
but we also have good stories about the region,” says Beth Nobles of the Texas Mountain Trail, a heritage tourism non-profit organization. “One of our most popular web pages is an itinerary built on women’s memoirs, and we knew we could do more to connect
reading with travel. Hopefully, each BookCrossing release will be a gift to a lucky traveler who will want to stay longer in the region and visit more sites, and then spread the word to others. In any case, we hope the extra photos will make the book more
interesting for the reader.”

Starting October 5, look for releases in Van Horn, Alpine, Fort Davis and Marfa, all small towns in the far west corner of Texas, along the Texas Mountain Trail. Let BookCrossing be your guide to the mountains!